Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2005 8:10 pm Posts: 436 Location: Australia
These guys Gordon Max have had some publicity on a tv current affairs show here - they say they are selling a diamond simulant but that it isnt CZ, moissanite, synthetic diamond or white sapphire.
They claim the hardness to be 8.9, so I dragged out my copy of Schumann's Gemstones of the World and checked his hardness chart and he lists:
Corundum 9
Alexandrite 8.5
Chrysoberyl 8.5
CZ 8.5
Djevalite 8 - 8.5 [a variant of CZ?]
Spinel 8
Taafeite 8
Topaz 8
YAG 8
While he mentions silicon carbide/moissanite under diamond simulants, he doesn't provide any useful info about it - but as I recall, its hardness is 9 something.
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:47 pm Posts: 2505 Location: Eastern Europe
Just thinking what industrial challenge is to develop a new diamond simulant, it sounds crazy to get one introduced through a retail channel, without any technical publication behind. The scenario just doesn't fit. Besides, it really is common to see CZ-with-a-label and promoters crossing their heart that their stones are solid moon-shine, LOL
At most, it may be one of the old sims, but doubt that... all that mass publicity for scarce goods doesn't make sense.
Joined: Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:43 pm Posts: 514 Location: North Carolina
beadiste,
Moissanite is hardness 9.25, though sometimes a bit more or less. This is the Charles & Colvert moissanite. I hear that some university has developed a different (non-patented) way to make the stuff. Don't know what it's hardness is. C&C make the stuff near me, but don't give samples.
Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:34 pm Posts: 26 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
I've seen two different versions of amorphous diamond coated materials marketed recently as simulants. One is white lab sapphire coated with a diamond film and the other is CZ with a similar coating. The CZ one goes by the trade name of Diamond Hybrid.
And I see they describe their "diamond hybrid" as having a hardness of "approximately 9," and that it "perfectly mimics the diamond's crystal structure (face-centered cubic)" - so best guess is diamond film coated CZ?
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